Joe Biden’s disaster of a presidency

Joe Biden’s disaster of a presidency

In the months preceding the November 2020 election, many friends and acquaintances told me the same thing: They would vote for anyone to get rid of Donald Trump as president.

After over a year of Joe Biden’s presidency, a question naturally arises: Really?

For some people, the answer is clearly “yes.” But everyone should read this quote from Princeton professor Robert George:

“To get rid of Trump, some people felt that it was necessary to say things about Joe Biden that aren’t true — that he is competent, for example, compassionate, caring, even wise. For some to say it, they had to find a way to make themselves believe it. Now reality has come crashing in.”

Here is that reality:

• The shambolic Afghanistan withdrawal humiliation/debacle was a turning point in his presidency, one that he cannot recover from. Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi and the hard men ruling Iran have taken their measure of him, and they are emboldened by his timidity, weakness and incompetence. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates leaders refuse to take his phone calls and are expanding ties with China. Things will only get worse if President Biden inks another nuclear deal with Iran, which could be the dumbest deal of all time.
• Inflation on his watch has reached a 40-year high, at 8.6% year over year in April. (It was 1.4% when he was inaugurated). Worse, since real (inflation-adjusted) wages have declined over 4%, one study found that it costs the average family over $5,000 per year. Yes, some of the fault for this lies with the Federal Reserve and President Trump’s spending in 2020, but Biden’s spending blowout in 2021 surely is a big part of it.
• Only recently (no doubt thanks to terrible polls) has he had anything to say about the skyrocketing crime wave in Democrat-run cities. I believe all of this was entirely preventable and was caused by the following: enacting “Defund the Police” policies, based upon the patently absurd idea that police are a bigger threat to the citizenry than criminals; enacting bail “reform” policies that let career criminals out of jail while awaiting trial for serious crimes; and electing “let ‘em go” Democrat prosecutors who refuse to prosecute appropriately. He should have used his presidential “bully pulpit” on all of this, but he has been missing in action.
• When Mr. Biden was sworn into office, the USA had the best Southern border security in years, largely thanks to Mr. Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. In one year of Mr. Biden’s open borders policies, here is the result: over 2 million illegal crossing arrests and an estimated 500,000 “got-aways.” Criminals and terrorists are part of the wave. And enough fentanyl has come into our country that there were 100,000 drug overdose deaths last year, with fentanyl now the main cause of death for people aged 18 to 45. This is immoral. Finally, Biden plans to end the Title 42 policy that allows border officials to summarily expel migrants on public health grounds. This has saved countless American lives. It is estimated that ending this policy will result in illegal crossings going from 7,000 per day to up to 18,000 per day. From my vantage point, this is likely happening in an effort to create future Democrats, i.e. continuous political power.
• When Mr. Biden was sworn into office, the USA was a net exporter of oil and natural gas. We were energy independent, and the average price of a gallon of gas was very reasonable. That average price is now up over 50% since his inauguration. Now, after bowing to the demands of the extreme elements of the environmental lobby, he is doing his best to put the fossil fuels industry out of business. It is pure fantasy to believe that this can be done without severely affecting our economy in a negative way. Meanwhile, to overcome our self-induced oil shortfall, he is pursuing Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and likely very soon Iran (of all places) as sources of additional oil for us. And this of course helps fuel Russia’s war machine.

It could have been worse, but two Democrat U.S senators held the line on some even more radical proposals. Still, this is what radical, far-left progressive governance looks like, albeit incompetently administered. To paraphrase Dante: “Abandon hope, ye who follow him.”

Joe Biden is a failed president, the worst in my lifetime. Rest easy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.

Bob Roper, of Columbia, is a retired bank executive and an observer of local and national politics.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Roper: Joe Biden’s disaster of a presidency